“On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog” is an adage that appeared as the caption of a cartoon published by The New Yorker on Jul. 5, 1993. The now famous cartoon features two dogs: one using a computer, speaking to a second dog sitting next to him. The adage speaks to the ability of internet users to communicate with one another in relative anonymity, with their true identities never revealed to those they communicate with. Despite the dated nature of this reference, internet users today are still free to self-represent, usually without consequence when their self-representations differ from reality.
Generally, on the internet it is easy to lie about one's self or to present an exaggerated, misleading, or false impression of who you are. On the internet, information as straightforward as one's name or age may be falsified, usually without detection or consequence. However, with the growing popularity of online video games, online dating websites, online social networks, and peer-to-peer transaction websites, internet users increasingly seek to know whether the people they interact with on the internet are who they claim to be. In general, one solution to this problem is for internet users to share personal information with one another in order to prove that they are indeed who they purport to be. One drawback with such an approach is that the personal information provided may be abused through identity theft or otherwise.